A2
至 — only then
How 至 marks something as later or harder than expected in Cantonese, how it pairs with 先, and why it is easy to confuse with the 先 that means “first”.
至 says something happened later, or took more, than expected. It is the Cantonese counterpart of Mandarin 才, and it sits before the verb.
佢九點至嚟。
Keoi5 gau2 dim2 zi3 lai4.
He didn’t come until nine.
我學咗三年至識講。
Ngo5 hok6zo2 saam1 nin4 zi3 sik1 gong2.
It took me three years before I could speak.
Neither sentence says anything about time on its own — the time word does that. 至 carries the speaker’s judgement that it was slow.
先至 is the everyday form
至 rarely appears alone in speech. 先至 is the ordinary way to say it, and it is one word rather than 先 plus 至.
食完飯先至去。
Sik6jyun4 faan6 sin1zi3 heoi3.
We’ll go after we’ve eaten, not before.
你講咗我先至知。
Nei5 gong2zo2 ngo5 sin1zi3 zi1.
I only knew because you told me.
It is not the 先 that means “first”
Cantonese has two things spelled with 先 and they sit in different places. 先 after the verb means first — 你食先, you eat first. 先至 before the verb means only then.
你食先。
Nei5 sik6 sin1.
You eat first.
你食完先至走。
Nei5 sik6jyun4 sin1zi3 zau2.
Don’t leave until you’ve finished eating.
Position tells them apart: after the verb it is first, before it is only then.
Against 就
就 is the opposite judgement — sooner, easier, straight away — and the pair works as it does in Mandarin.
佢七點就嚟咗。
Keoi5 cat1 dim2 zau6 lai4zo2.
He was here by seven.
就 takes 咗 or 喇 happily, because being early is news. 至 usually does not — a complaint about how long something took is a comment rather than an announcement.